"GoldenEye 007: Reloaded" Video Game Preview

GoldenEye 007: Reloaded is the latest re-imagining of the Nintendo 64 game from 1997. In 2010, Activision released an updated version of the classic for the Wii with the studio, Eurocom, in charge of development and Daniel Craig in place of Pierce Brosnan. The game was well-reviewed and based on player feedback, Activision decided to begin work on a release for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 systems. The game is due in stores this fall.

In order to avoid doing a straight port, Eurocom beefed the game up for the next gen systems. They built a new game engine and increased the frame rate to 60 frames per second. The game will also include a local four player split-screen mod and 16-player online matches. It will also be compatible with the Playstation Move and Sharp Shooter accessory. According to Activision, they wanted to include the Playstation Move option to allow players to really choose how they want to interact with the game.

Judi Dench’s voice work, David Arnold’s score and Bruce Feirstein’s story and dialogue updates will continue to be a part of the game. In addition, Activision said it was very important for them to capture the physicality of Daniel Craig’s Bond. So, they brought in Daniel Craig’s stunt double, Ben Cook, to do the motion capture for most of Bond’s takedowns and much of the combat.

The first level shown has Bond and Agent 006 sneaking around a Dam in Russia, where MI6 has detected shady arms dealings. During game play they demonstrated the virtues of sneaking around, as opposed to leaping in, guns blazing. In this particular area, Bond and 006 would have been somewhat overmatched. Also, the takedowns really do convey this Bond’s aggressiveness and physicality. The environments were sharp looking Bond moved smoothly. Views through the gun’s scope moved, but didn’t jitter around too much.

The second level previewed takes place about halfway through the game. Bond has tracked a rogue general to a Northern Russian facility so that he can determine what the man is after and what he’s trying to do. It’s light out in this level. The terrain involves a lot of uphill movement through snow. The enemies are wearing camouflage appropriate to their surroundings. Partway into the level, clouds coalesce over a large building off in the distance. A giant beam shoots from the sky to destroy the structure. This causes a helicopter to come spiraling out of the sky. It’s landing barely misses Bond. Because of the explosion, all security in the area is heightened and Bond must make his way through to his next objective.

By previewing this level, Activision made sure to emphasize how vital it is to take the time to assess your situation and not immediately engage the enemy in a firefight. Bond is severely outnumbered here. Activision later allowed attendees to play through this level and those who opened fire early on did not last much longer. An attendee asked how difficult the difficulties were. Activision said the lowest difficultly level was very accessible and the highest difficulty level was extremely challenging.

In addition to the single-player campaign, eleven new single player missions called, MI-6 Ops have been added. Activision says they’ve taken locations from the game and put in other kinds of gameplay objectives like defense, elimination, stealth and assault. Some of these maps will be unlocked at the start. As you play through more will be unlocked. There’s also an options screen with a tremendous amount of modifiers. Some are there for fun. Others will affect the difficulty of the level, such as the enemy AI’s destructiveness and accuracy. After completing the mission, you’ll be able to go to the leaderboards to compare scores. The game allows you to highlight another player’s score, see what settings they played that mission on and then try to best their number.

They made special mention of a frustration that Wii (and N64) players had in which secondary objectives were tied to difficulty. If the player wanted to play a on a harder difficulty level, they would have to complete additional mission objectives or be bumped down to an easier combat level. There was no indication that secondary objectives were missed. In the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 games, secondary objectives are now optional and no longer affect the player’s choice of difficulty level. Pursuing them may now be pursued to gain access to additional achievements and trophies.

Activision didn’t go into much detail on the multiplayer features at this event, but did mention that there would be 4-player local split screen, 16-player online campaigns, new game modes, new weapons and new classic characters.

GoldenEye 007: Reloaded will be available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 this fall.

Notes:

First Person Shooters usually cause me to become motion sick and I was happy to find that I did not feel a headache coming on or nausea at all during the demo. My threshold is usually 15 minutes and I was still good after 40 minutes of demo.

One of the attendees asked if the environments were destructible. Activision said it was not a prominent part of the game, but it was present.

The game features a classic health mode. So, it’s important to stay out of combat whenever possible.

One attendee noted that there were no noticeable frame rate drops during the gameplay.

The Eurocom GoldenEye team includes people who worked on 007: NightFire, which received an 8.0 score on IGN and 7.9 on GameSpot.

The Wii release of GoldenEye 007 received a 9.0 from IGN and an 8.5 from GameSpot.